Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

So, the day after going to Cinci to meet Jen Lancaster, we drove to Akron for my brother-in-law’s law school graduation.

We had dinner with Kim & Charles and his family at, um, I can’t remember the name of the place. But it’s the kind of place where they cook the food right there in front of you. It was pretty good, and I had a chocolate martini … actually I think I may have had two now that I think about it.

Graduation was on Sunday, and it was pretty cool to go to a law school graduation. After the ceremony we went to lunch at … again I can’t remember where we went. I’m pretty sure at least one more chocolate martini was had. Maybe that’s why I can’t remember the names of the restaurants!

My sister reprimanded me a week or so ago for not updating in ages, which, if you know my sister, is amazing. So, here you go Kim, I’m updating. But since I haven’t really thought about the best way to babble about all the stuff that’s happened, and I can assure you five people that it’s a lot, I’m not even going to attempt to jump in. You’ll just have to wait.

I’ve stayed away longer than I wanted to, mainly because I’ve been so, so angry since the funeral. It’s not going away, and I’ve had additional anger added to my tightly-wound emotional state, so I guess I’ll just have to power through, the Michael Bluth way.

Things that royally pissed me off relating to my grandpa’s death:

— Someone getting upset whenever my grandma was mentioned (you know, his wife of 44 years, mother of his children, who isn’t around because she died not because they divorced)

— Someone bitching because all she could eat from the City Barbecue dinner between visitations was macaroni and cheese because she’s a vegetarian (guess you’d better learn to start thinking ahead, huh?)

— Someone listening to his mp3 player/iPod/whatever during the second visitation (I wanted to punch him)

— Someone carrying on before the funeral like it was her father or husband who had died (seriously, it was appalling)

There are several other things, but you get the gist.

The more recent anger-inducing events are best not talked about, but they made me feel the need to get wasted last night, which I did and which I am now paying for. Did you know you can’t drink like you’re 21 when you’re 30? I did, but that sure didn’t stop me.

We went up to my friend Jason’s house and played some euchre, and I did a lo-ot of drinking. Apple martini at dinner, wine coolers and sour apple pucker during the cards. I had a lot of fun, because I just adore hanging out with with Jason, and Dave and I rarely get to play cards. Today though, I’m really wishing I hadn’t had that last wine cooler.

In other news, I have a new crush: Jim Halpert from “The Office.” Dave is lucky Jim’s not a real person. If he were real, I’d be on the road to Scranton, Pa. right now. Also? I might consider letting John Krasinski be my boyfriend.

Yeah, we just watched the season two finale on Thursday, and I’m anxiously waiting for Dave to get home from a bachelor party so we can start watching season three. I finally get thispost from MB, and like some of the people who commented on that post, I have been watching the end of the episode over and over. *sigh* So sweet. I love him.

If I’m supposed to call you in the next few days and don’t, or if I dont’ reply to e-mails or messages right away, it’s not because I’m mad at you. My grandpa died earlier tonight, and I’ll probably be generally unavailable for a little while.

So many things bouncing around in my head, and instead of choosing one, I’m going to cram a few in here. I think we’ll get the bitchiness and nastiness over with first.

It’s very enjoyable to call up a friend to check up on them and have them call you a whore and hang up on you. I really wish my friends would do that more often, especially when I’m doing everything I can to help them out. Whatever. I’ve done my best, and maybe someday they’ll fucking figure that out.

Next up: The people who send you forwards about politics, religion, immigrants, gay people, all kinds of stuff without bothering to stop and think about how offended you may be by these e-mails. People, if you aren’t 100% sure what someone thinks about certain topics, don’t send that crap. Not everyone thinks all immigrants should get the hell out, not everyone thinks that giving gay people THE SAME RIGHTS that straight people have will make the world implode, not everyone wants to get that sappy drivel about the notecards filed in heaven, not everyone thinks that all Muslims are evil. Seriously, WTF?

On a more cheerful note, Tasha and Jeff were in town over the weekend for BGSU’s homecoming, and I got to spend most of my Saturday with them. So much fun! I didn’t make it up there in time to go to the BGNews tent, but that’s OK. Maybe next year. Anyway, the three of us had dinner at Easy Street and then Jeff & I went to Beckett’s to shoot pool while Tasha went back to the hotel to take a nap, leaving us without a car.

Not too far into things I took a step back away from the table after a shot and the heel on my left shoe broke. That sucks, of course, but the thing that really pissed me off was that I had bought the shoes less than three hours before! Luckily Dave was up that way watching football, so I called him and he came and took us to the mall so I could buy yet another pair of shoes. Then he dropped us back off at Beckett’s, and we waited for Tasha.

When Tasha got there we played some more pool, then we went to Downtown, which was a mistake because there were waaaaaaaaaay too many people there. We did run into our friend Bailey, but we still left after one drink and went to BW3 to eat again. Then we hung out in their hotel room for a little while, and I headed home. I know it doesn’t sound too exciting, but we laughed a lot and got to catch up, so it was a good time.

Oh, and Sunday I took the evil broken shoes back and they let me exchange them. I was going to get a different style, but I really liked the ones that broke, so I went with those again. I’ll just have to walk verrrrrrrry carefully and not take any steps backwards I guess.

Well, I must go vacuum up the pet dander and spray things down with allergen-reducing Febreze for allergy man, so I’m outta here.

Had lunch at Spot’s in BG and hung out with Jeff last Friday, who was in town from San Jose. Next time you see/talk to him, tell him “Power down, bitch!”

Our newest copy editor quit, so we’re looking again. Boo.

We’ve made a decision of sorts that I’m pretty happy about, but would most likely disappoint many other people, so guess what? Not telling.

Both of us turned a year older last month. I guess I’m weird since most people freak out at the big 2-9, but really, it’s just another year like any other. Most days I feel way older than I am, so what’s the big deal?

Joy’s wedding shower was last weekend, and it was fun!

We leave for Las Vegas in a week for Joy & Rodney’s wedding, and I can’t wait! I tried to get her to get married by Elvis, but she said no.

Still looking at houses, keeping an eye on the ones that interest me, hoping to be able to get serious about buying relatively soon.

Have a few pictures from Amy & Joe’s wedding, and Dave’s graduation, that I may get around to putting up sometime in the next year.

Going to IKEA with Joy tomorrow, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve heard of the wonders of IKEA, but until recently there wasn’t one close enough to us.

I used the last of the coffee this morning, so Findlay had better hope Dave brings some home with him tonight, or it ain’t gonna be pretty.

I had a list in my head of things to include in this post, and wouldn’t you know, I forgot to remember what was on the list.

I know that my running into Jason who was in Iraq was on the list. Medium story short: saw him at BW3 in BG last month, much hugging and happiness, now have his cell number and know where he’s living. Hooray! Also have the other Jason’s cell number. Another hooray!

Went to a bead show in the Cleveland area with Joy last weekend. Well, it was more of a gem show, which we weren’t expecting, but we did manage to find some things to buy. Had lunch in Berea before hitting the fairgrounds, which we don’t get to do much anymore, so that was nice. Also had ourselves in hysterics on the way there telling fart stories. I admit it – gas makes me laugh.

I put a bunch of pictures on Flickr – old pictures! Like, from age 4 or so on up. Tons more to scan and upload, but knowing me, that won’t happen any time soon. Now that I’ve said that though, I’m eyeing the scanner (buried under a big stack of Dave’s papers) and thinking how it looks like it wants to work. Maybe.

I’ve got to find someone to alter my bridesmaids dresses ASAP. I’ve got a month and a half before Amy’s, but I need to find someone with a quick turnaround time. I’ll still be dieting and losing for Joy’s wedding in August, so I don’t really want to have it altered like a month before.

Speaking of the diet, I’ve lost 17 pounds, which is the most I’ve ever lost in one dieting stretch. I had to go buy new work pants and a pair of jeans b/c all the others were either too big or still a bit too small yet. A third hooray! When I hit the -25 mark, as a reward I’m going to color my hair. I don’t know what color though. Maybe darker with some red in it. Dunno. Any suggestions?

OK, off to take in some more nice weather before the sun goes down. Let’s just hope the neighbors leave us alone.

As you can see, my sister got married on March 9; they didn’t tell anyone they were doing this, so I had a brother-in-law for two days and didn’t know it. Do you think she’ll still let me drag her to a bridal shop to try on gowns?

My grandpa had knee surgery on March 6, which should have been a simple thing, but then some bad things were going on with his stomach, so he was in the hospital for a week. Bad times for everyone, especially him, obviously, but he’s home now.

I have two bridesmaids dresses hanging up downstairs, and guess what? Neither fits right. But it was planned that way, kind of, because I’m dieting to make them fit. No, it’s not stupid to do that – I’ve lost 11.5 pounds so shut up! They’ll have to be altered anyway because I’m too short and, well, when you diet the boobs are the first place you lose, so the tops are too big. But I foresee things working out splendidly. And I bought my shoes for both yesterday (1 pair for both, thank you ladies!) and they’re pretty cute. So, hooray!

On the grouchier side, work’s been a serious pain in my ass and there are certain people that I’d really like to punch, but they frown on that, you know. Especially the ones who float along and don’t have a clue what they’re doing and then get praise piled on them for something I helped create. Nice.

But you know what? I’ll get over it. I bust my ass regardless of whether it gets noticed, and I know it, and that’s what matters.

Last night we went to the DAV with Joy and Rodney and caught up. We were going to play pool, but never got around to it, we were so busy babbling. Which reminds me, Dave is in their wedding too, which is in Vegas! Yay Vegas!

The other wedding is my sister-in-law’s wedding, have I mentioned that before? I can’t remember. So we’ll head to Philly in May and Vegas in August. Much traveling for us.

And now, after spending hours uploading (downloading? which way would that go?) songs, I’m listening to Gary Allan on my new iPod nano. Before that it was Dean Martin. I wasn’t sure about this little thing yesterday, but now I’m seeing how great it will be.